This invention relates to a three direction changeable guide device for use in a conveying section provided within a bank note handling machine such as a bank note deposit machine, a bank note discriminating machine, etc.
The three direction changeable guide device is used to selectively guide bank notes into one of three directions in accordance with the kind of bank notes, genuineness of the bank notes, etc.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional three direction changeable guide device in the conveying section of a bank note handling machine.
The guide device includes a number of parallel belts 16 which are laterally disposed and horizontally run in the direction of arrow A. Only one of the belts 16 and one set of pulleys and forks appears in FIG. 1. The other belts, pulleys and forks which will be described hereinafter are laterally disposed in the same manner. Although the guide device is constituted of a number of sets of belts, pulleys and forks, since the operation of these sets is identical, the following description will be limited to one set only. A Pulley 12 engages with a belt 16 from their upper side to hold the belt 16 in the proper position. The pulley 12 may be used to drive the belt 16.
A belt 17 engages with the lower side of belt 16 from the lower side thereof and then deflected downwardly in the direction of the arrow D over a pulley 14 disposed just below the pulley 12. Another belt 18 is trained on a pulley 15 disposed adjacent the pulley 14. The pulley 15 causes the belt 18 to run toward the pulley 14, to engage with the belt 17 and, thereafter, to be deflected in the direction of the arrow C.
A first fork 10 is disposed adjacent and downstream of the pulleys 12 and 14. The first fork 10, which is of generally triangular shape, has one straight side surface 10b and another side surface 10a with a curved portion 10c. The straight side surface 10b of the fork 10 faces the belt 16. The first fork 10 is adapted to be swung so as to change the direction of the movement of bank notes being transferred in the direction of the arrow A while held between the belts 16 and 17. More particularly, when the fork 10 is swung to upwardly project above the level of the belt 16 as shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, the bank notes being transferred are obstructed in their forward travel by the fork 10 and are, therefore, downwardly deflected along the belt 17 in the direction of the arrow D. On the other hand, when the fork 10 swung below the level of the belt 16 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, the bank notes being transferred are not obstructed by the fork 10 and are, therefore, horizontally transferred further in the direction of the arrow B.
A second fork 11 is disposed adjacent and downstream of the pulleys 14 and 15. Its shape is the same as that of the first fork 10. That is, the fork 11 has one straight side surface 11b and another side surface 11a with a curved portion 11c. The straight side surface 11b of the fork 11 faces the belt 17. In a similar manner to the fork 10, the fork 11 is adapted to be swung so as to change the direction of movement of bank notes. More particularly, when the fork 11 is swung upwardly to project above the belt 17 as shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, the bank notes which are conveyed along the pulley 14 are obstructed by the fork 11 and, therefore, deflected along the belt 18 in the direction of the arrow C. When the fork 11 is swung below the belt 17 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, the bank notes being transferred are not obstructed by the fork 11 and are, therefore, further conveyed in the direction of the arrow D.
In the above construction, when the fork 10 is in the position shown in solid lines and the fork 11 is in the position shown in solid lines, the bank notes are transferred first along the belt 16, then along the pulley 14 and finally along the belt 18 in the direction of the arrow C. That is, the bank notes are transferred along an abruptly curved zigzag path or in a reversed "S"-shaped path. Because of this, the conventional guide device has the disadvantage that the bank notes are sometimes not transferred smoothly or become jammed.
Another guide device which has been proposed to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantage is shown in FIG. 2. In this guide device, another pulley 14' is provided adjacent the pulley 14 and another pulley 15' is provided adjacent the pulley 15 so that the distance between the forks 10 and 11 along the path of the belt 17 is increased to eliminate the abruptly curved zigzag path. Although this construction can eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantage, it has another disadvantage in that the guide device becomes complicated in construction because of the increased number of pulleys.